A summary of Deiryū Chitai (Mud flow zone)
In May of 1926 (Taishō 15), Mt Tokachi in central Hokkaido had a sudden and devastating eruption. The resulting mud flows destroyed families, farms, and schools, as well as budding romances and treasured dreams. The novel follows the lives of two boys before and after the eruption, and is based loosely on the childhood of Miura Ayako’s husband, Mitsuyo.
In the hamlet of Nisshin, a mile from the town of Kami-Furano, Takuichi and Kōsaku live lives of hopeful determination in the face of great poverty, class discrimination, and absent parents. Their father has been killed in a logging accident, their mother has been forced to leave for the big city to find work, and the children are left on the farm with their grandparents and two sisters. Despite many temptations to give up, they remain true to their principles and slowly approach the fruition of their hard work and dreams, when it is all carried away in the mud flow. What was the point of it all? Why do people bother to hope and dream in such circumstances? These are some of the questions that are explored in this deeply moving novel.
